A Little Taste of Knowledge
by Ren Mizuki
Summary: What's become of me? Can I not break out of this darkness and find the true world? Or am I left to wonder this world alone? Who shall be my saviour? Is this Darien Night my guide? Can I, Lara,intrust myself within his care?- vampire fic-one-shot- COMPLETE


**Okay... I know I usually do Naruto stuff, but I had to do this for a class so I thought, "Why not?! Kill two birds with one stone..." so yeah....... hope you enjoy it, even though it's a one-shot....... **

**My best friend, you all might know her as LCHSchick, but we'll be changing that into neko-chan...... anyways.....**

**Neko-chan just looked at my pants and randomly said, "Penguins in green hats make them look fat." Of which I said, "Where?"**

**She then said, "......On your pants?"**

**So I proceeded to freak out about it...... joy...... Like I said, I'm random... well, oops! I didn't say I was random, so I'm gonna say it now.**

**I. Am. Random. Get over it.**

**Lol, not trying to be mean or anything, 'cause I don't expect you to read this anyways, 'cause I know I don't read the bold parts..... boring... And I wanna get to the story soooo..... Seriously. Its true. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story, and I may continue it at some point, but only if I get enough reviews.**

**Note- These are all my own characters. Don't steal them. Thanks!**

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I could feel the tears streaking down my face, gathering at my lips to then running down the human's throat. Using the healing agent in my saliva, I swept my tongue over the pinpricks, healing them closed.

I raised my head, and began to straighten the man's clothes and hair. While doing this, I noticed that he was abnormally pale.

_Darn_, I thought, _I wasn't paying attention and drank too much of his blood._

Fixing his memories wasn't hard. I had learned over the decades that it was easier to erase humans' memories than kill them. Arranging his thoughts around, I created an urge for him to walk back down the camper's path and back to his tent. He was to then sleep for a long time feeling very tired, and slightly dizzy.

"Yeah, because of me." I muttered to myself.

Again, for about the millionth time in my life, I wondered why I was vampire. Well, I am a vampire, but I don't kill like most do. Still, my existence is hated, and I am thought to be unholy.

I took a swipe at the falling tears with my hand, my shoulders shaking.

_I hate myself. I always have and I always will._ I thought to inwardly.

Out from the shadows stepped out a tall, muscular man. "May I ask why you hate yourself?" his deep voice questioned softly.

I took a step back, feeling my long jet black hair brush my elbow. Placing my hand on the hilt of my knife, I narrowed my cold gray eyes at him. Never before had I feared a man, or being, for that matter, but now my heart pounded. I could feel the blood drain from my face, which with my already pale skin; I knew I looked white as a ghost. Gripping the handle of my knife, I found comfort in the fact that I was armed.

"I never said that." I said coldly, gripping my knife tighter.

The large man chuckled softly, and bowed low from the waist. I could feel my heart jump start and beat faster, at this. I did not understand this reaction, but I crouched lower, not trusting the large figure.

"Forgive me, I read you mind out of habit." He sounded like he was suppressing a laugh.

I gritted my teeth at his cool demeanor.

He straightened slightly, folding one arm behind his back. With the other, he held his hand out. "Let me introduce myself. I am Darien. Darien Night." he said softly, as if talking to a small doe.

I, for one, am not a small doe. Emphasis on not.

He chuckled softly, and I bristled at the sound. I noticed that Mr. Night had not moved his hand, which was still held up, offered to me.

"I wasn't reading your mind." He assured, but I must have looked doubtful because he finished saying, "Promise."

I stepped forward, but didn't offer my hand back. "My name is Lara." I murmured, still staring at his hand. How could it be so large? It looked hard, and calloused, but almost like it'd be soft when touched.

_Wait._ I thought, stopping those other thoughts immediately. _Why am I thinking about his hand?_

I looked up to see his face, brow creased in concentration, a frown on his lips. I then realized what he was doing.

Hissing curses at him, I grabbed my knife and shoved it towards him.

"I'll say this slowly, Mr. Night, and you better understand quickly. Get. Out. Of. My. Head!" I spat at him, fury flickering in my gray eyes.

Darien's expression grew grim, and I felt a surge of triumph when I saw that he held up his hands in surrender.

What shocked me, though, was that he didn't back away like he should have. Instead, I watched him move closer to me.

I opened my mouth to shout a rude insult, but immediately shut it when his warm hand surrounded mine. Prying my fingers loose from the knife, he held it in his hand, then becoming the wielder of the weapon.

Trembling softly, my eyes widened in fear.

_Why can't I move? Why am I so afraid?! I've never had this problem in a battle. Yet when I look at Mr. Night, I freeze, and my heart quickens. Power clings to him like a second skin, and I fear his power._ I thought frantically, not realizing that I feared his power and not him.

I closed my eyes when he finally moved from those agonizingly slow seconds. I heard the scrape of metal against leather, but I didn't know what had caused it.

So I stood there, shaking, tears collecting on my eyelashes and falling in steady streams down my face.

_Great._ I thought. _I'm crying. Why don't you just kill me now, Mr. Night?!_

A warm, calloused hand held my chin gently and tilted my face upward. "Shhh, don't be afraid. I only wanted to see if you had a last name. Don't worry about your knife." He assured me.

My eyes still closed, I sensed his heat close to my hip. I realized his hand was or the hilt of my knife.

_Wait, my knife?_ I thought, confused. _Did he put it back in its sheath?_ I tried to put the previous sounds together. _Oh! The sound of metal scraping against leather was my knife returning to its scabbard!_ I concluded, happy that I figured it out.

Remembering that Mr. Night, one of the scariest vampires I've ever met, was still very close to me, I squeezed my eyes closed, tighter. This caused more tears to fall down my face.

_Great._ I thought, exasperated. _He's going to kill me._

"Please don't tremble like that." Darien pleaded, a hidden groan detected behind his plea. "It hurts my heart to think that you're afraid of me." He said softly, feathering the pad of his thumb across my cheekbone.

_What heart? The black, withered one in your chest?_ I thought to myself, shivering from his light touch.

"I only took your knife to protect us both." He chuckled lightly, hoping to lighten the mood. "The knife looks like it could do some serious damage, but not you. You look too fragile." He murmured softly before stepping away.

I opened my eyes trying to put a scowl on my face to cover the huge blush that heated my face.

_Was that supposed to be a compliment?_ I thought, my eye twitching slightly.

"Yes, it was." He answered the unspoken thought.

I growled lightly, issuing a small warning for him to watch out.

He laughed this time, the noise loud and strong.

_Ok. I may not like him, but that laugh of his is growing on me._ I thought, a smile flitting across my lips.

"I promise you I did not. Not." He repeated for emphasis, "read your mind. I guessed." His look of pure innocence sent me into a laughing fit.

"Sure you did!" I laughed breathlessly, one arm wound around my waist as if to hold myself together.

"Ok, I didn't, but I wish I could read your mind more." He admitted softly.

My laughter died immediately.

"Why?" I asked, the smile on my lips fading.

"Because I find it interesting, Lara." He said, insistent. "Your mind is intriguing."

I tilted my head, confused. "Why?"

"It's like a puzzle!" Darien answered. "You say you hate yourself, but you love the advantages from being a vampire."

"Such as?" I asked, prompting him.

"Such as running incredibly fast, the ability to have insane strength, and see perfectly in the night, that's what. To hear every trickling stream, every creature in the hollow, or snap of a twig in the forest, that's another few, Lara. The best yet, shape-shifting into different animals!" he concluded, taking pride in his knowledge.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, so? What about my dislikes?" I asked, forgetting the fact that he had learned all that from my mind.

"Oh, those are easy, Lara. You dislike having to drink blood for survival. You want to see the sun again, but you get sunburn from it easily, and it hurts your eyes. You think you're a demon, and unholy, when you're not."

"Not?" I asked, majorly confused this time.

"Not." He confirmed, and I could feel joy course through me at his one, small word.

"I don't like to kill humans, but I had always heard other vampires do." I admitted softly.

"Why? We just control their minds and make them forget what happened. I don't kill them." He pointed towards himself.

"Well, thank you for this knowledge, Mr. Nigh-"I was cut off by his comment.

"Please, Darien is fine." He murmured, laughing.

_Ok._ I thought, _I love his laugh._ Shaking my head, I continued, "Thank you, Darien, for your help." I finished, turning.

As I began to walk away, I paused for a second, and turned my head back to him.

"I guess I didn't know as much as I thought." I confessed sheepishly.

"It's not your fault, Lara. You could learn." Darien said softly, regret evident in his eyes.

_Is he sad that I'm leaving? I am._ I thought, admitting to my defeat.

Turning around, I looked at Darien. Looking down, embarrassed, I fiddled with my sleeve.

"Will you teach me?" I asked, shyly.

Darien stepped forward, taking my hand in his.

"Better yet, I can show you." He whispered, pulling on my hand gently to walk into the forest with him.

**~^~*Ren Mizuki*~^~**

**Author's Note:**

**Sooooo? How'd you like it? Nice hunh? Or bad, nah? Lol, took my friend a moment to get that joke..... and now she's making snide, rude comments to me.**

***beats friend on head* ok...... REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


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